Where Good Driving Starts.
Where Good 
Richard is the latest addition to the team at YES! Driving School, where he provides a service as a Driving Instructor in Weymouth and the surrounding areas. Richard previously worked at Heathrow Airport before moving into driving, firstly qualifying as a bus driver and then as a driving instructor. Whilst living in London, unforeseen circumstances caused Richard to press pause on his driving instruction career. He is now ready to enjoy his life once more as a driving instructor in Weymouth. Richard and his family moved to Dorset in 2017, settling in Portland.
Richard likes to use his previous experience, coupled with up-to-date coaching skills to get the best from his pupils. He teaches in a client-centred manner. With this approach, his pupils are free to let him know of their driving concerns and, with a little guidance where necessary, they can find ways to overcome them. Richard believes that working as a team is the easiest way to get the best results but allowing a pupil to think for themselves will always produce a safer driver in the long term.
Richard has a real love of seeing people improve their skills through exploring different techniques and methods.
When not working, Richard loves spending time with his family and dogs but also enjoys going to the cinema and watching most sports, especially football . He also ‘tries’ to play darts locally. Richard enjoys a laugh and tries to make lessons as relaxed and fun as possible.
Richard is currently on a Trainee Licence having completed all 3 parts of the qualifying training. His Part 1 and 2 Tests are complete and he has completed over 40 hours of instructional training. Some of his lessons will be regularly monitored by YES! Director of Training, Pete.
Shelley-Anne started her journey to become a driving instructor in February 2020, just before the initial lockdown. In such a short time, Shelley-Anne has become a Trainee Driving Instructor in Southampton and the surrounding areas.
One day when browsing the web, Shelley-Anne stumbled across electric cars and YES! Driving School’s shared interest in electrifying the automatic car fleet.
With lockdown and job insecurities looming, she picked up on the idea to secure an additional career. Shelley-Anne used the available extra time to start her training and she has since sailed through her part 1 and part 2 tests at the first attempt with good results. She is now making excellent progress on her trainee license towards the final qualifying exam in order to deliver outstanding driving lessons in the Southampton area, where she has lived with her family for over 16 years.
Originally from Zimbabwe, after much political turmoil and unrest, she came to the UK in 2003 with her husband. Shelley-Anne has since mostly worked in administration roles, at several colleges and at the Southampton General Hospital before embarking on becoming a medical secretary in the private sector where she runs the private practices for 4 consultants.
From her own son aged 13, Shelley-Anne understands the needs and worries of young people. She is a kind and very patient tutor, with a great sense of empathy in understanding the difficulties of driving in the UK. She enjoys helping students to achieve their goal at becoming safe and skillful drivers at a time when the roads are busier than ever. Shelley-Anne likes to instil confidence in her student’s abilities. She aims for her learners to leave their lessons with a smile, reflecting on their journey so far and looking forward to next lesson’s challenges. She is looking forward to being a modern, up-to-date driving instructor in Southampton using the latest coaching techniques to get the best from her pupils.
After moving to Dorset, Al chose YES! Driving School for his Driving Instructor Training and hasn’t looked back since. Al is a friendly and dedicated instructor with a calm, understanding manner and has a patient approach that helps put pupils at ease. He is keen to achieve and maintain the best standards as a driving instructor in Broadstone and the surrounding areas.
What makes the job so interesting for Al is that no two pupils are the same, and neither are their needs. His genuine curiosity for what his pupils are thinking and feeling, helps him to tailor his lessons and teaching styles to suit each pupil, finding the best way for them to learn. Al sees learning to drive as a partnership between pupil and instructor and encourages them to have an involvement in decision making as much as possible. As a driving instructor in Broadstone, he aims to create an atmosphere that allows pupils to achieve solid learning, but at the same time allows them to not worry about being judged when they do make mistakes.
Safe & Respectful Driving
Importantly, Al prides himself on being a safe and respectful driver. Passing these qualities on to his pupils lies at the heart of everything that he teaches. He firmly believes these are qualities that are essential to making a well-rounded, competent and responsible driver for life.
Life before and beyond
Originally from the Midlands, Al lived and worked for several years in London as a Graphic Designer where he enjoyed designing for companies ranging from international brands to local businesses. From this he gained valuable experience of how to work with and adapt to a wide range of people. He moved to Dorset in the mid 2010’s to find somewhere to put down long term roots. Having worked in the design industry for several years he decided he wanted a career that was more fulfilling, and people orientated. Having always been passionate for all things motoring becoming a driving instructor was a perfect fit.
In his free time you can find him foraging deep in the forest or out on a long country walk – or if it’s raining he’s quite happy with one of his cats on his lap with a good film.
Alastair has recently passed his final qualifying test of Instructional Ability and his instructional techniques are really sharp but this is laced with a blend of humour, compassion and a natural curiosity about his pupils. Al has already stated that he still wants to learn more and progress by spending more time with our Director of Training, Pete Wilkinson.
Pete joined YES! Driving School when he moved to Dorset and chose YES! Driving School from many others. YES! Driving School made it easy for Pete to become a driving instructor in Blandford.
As part of his 22 years in the Army, Pete was an Instructor of various subjects for 21 years of this service. In this time, Pete realised that he had the ability to understand what makes an individual tick. Additionally, he learned how to get the best from each one. He now puts this ability together with the latest coaching techniques. This makes your learning experience an easy, stress free and fun time.
Pete believes that the Pupil should have a major say in their learning experience and any decisions made about the pace and direction of training should be a team effort. As a Trainer at heart, Pete is passionate about training. He takes great pleasure from seeing people progress in life and relishes in the excitement of Test Day. He has a great ability in putting his pupils at ease and giving a great sense of self-belief. This helps on Test Day and also in preparation for solo driving once the Pupil becomes a Full Licence Holder.
A strong knowledge of all test areas in Bournemouth, Poole, Dorchester and Salisbury ensures easy learning.
Always looking for self-improvement, Pete took the Advanced Driving Test assessed by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and achieved a Gold Award, the highest standard awarded. He has since retested several times with the same result and also went on to successfully complete the RoSPA Tutors Assessment. Pete aims to provide more than the basic levels as a Driving Instructor in Blandford and surrounding areas.
Pete also provides a structured programme of Instructor Training. If you’re interested in becoming a Driving Instructor, click here.
More recently, Pete completed his Standards Check with the DVSA and was Graded ‘A’, scoring the maximum score possible with 51/51. Top Result!
Mark joined YES! Driving School in April 2017. He considered many other driving schools, then chose YES! as the stand out, professional and friendliest driving school in Dorset.
Mark served for 26 years in the Royal Marines and has served all around the world. During his time in the Royal Marines, Mark held various instructional positions. Aside from his military qualifications, he is an experienced instructor for Skiing, Rugby and Polo. A member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, he has also received driver training in a variety of different driving styles. These include Off-road, rallying, evasive driving and he has successfully completed the Police advanced driving course.
Mark takes a client centred approach to training. He believes that when a student understands the ‘How & Why’ and applies that during learning, progress and success can come quickly. Learning to drive can be daunting and Mark can still remember the first time he went 30mph. Therefore he ensures that all lessons are conducted in a relaxed no nonsense style, working together as a team to ensure lesson goals are achieved.
Mark has lived in Dorset for over 27 years so will always find you some appropriate and challenging driving routes. This will advance your skills and develop your driving experience.
As part of YES! Driving School’s mission to promote ‘Better Driving Starts Here’, Mark has reviewed and updated our trailer training course to better meet your flexible training needs.
Mark recently furthered his own skills by successfully achieving a Gold standard on the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Advanced Driving Test. He is also now on the RoSPA Tutor List. He uses these advanced skills to make YES! Driving School the most up to date driving school in Dorset.
Tom enjoys the wide variety of different people he meets as a driving instructor in Christchurch and working with them to find the very best way for them to learn. He naturally puts his pupils at ease and he knows that learning works best when the pupil is happy and interested. For this reason, Tom encourages pupils to put the right mix of skills and topics into a lesson to keep it interesting throughout. Tom takes pride in adapting his lessons to the performance of the pupil on the day. He understands that pupils will learn some skills faster than others and continuously adjusts the pace of the lesson to suit them. He specially enjoys the point at the end of a lesson when a student can look back and see the improvements they have made.
Tom moved to the area from the Lake District more than 20 years ago, from a beautiful (but rainy) part of the country to another beautiful part of the country where it rains much less. He has spent much of that time working in large corporations which had strong focus on developing people skills. He often led training sessions both for groups and individuals. Tom is now uses as many techniques as possible to transfer knowledge and skills. Combine that with his long held interest in motoring (but don’t expect him to be excited by anything made after 1980) and becoming a driving instructor in Christchurch was an obvious career choice.
His two kids have reached the age when they are still at home but never around, and are really looking forwards to free driving lessons! In his free time Tom really enjoys coaching the juniors at a local kayak club and exploring this lovely part of the country. He enjoys paddling his sea kayak along the Jurassic coast or peddling his bike around the new forest. He enjoys playing Bridge too.
Tom has recently completed his Instructional training with our Director of Training and successfully completed the final qualifying exam.
Before moving to Dorset Susan lived and taught in South-West London. She now lives in Boscombe with her three children, her partner and a Dalmatian. Susan operates as a female automatic driving instructor. She covers the areas of Christchurch, Bournemouth and Poole – a wide area, because she can’t say “no”, when asked nicely.
Susan has also successfully completed the Mobility Course with QEF. This has given her an in depth knowledge of adaptations which can be made to a car. She also gained many techniques to be used to enable people with a variety of disabilities to be successful at driving.
Sue’s motoring career started when she marshalled at various motorbike events from club races to GPs. When occasionally asked if she’d ever get scared when teaching, Sue likes to reply that “nothing is as scary as a riderless motorbike hurtling towards you with only a straw bale (or another marshal) for protection!”. In other words, Sue is still looking for the student who’d give her a challenge ;).
Apart from that, Sue loves teaching in Dorset as the roads are so varied compared to South London roads. Please ask for Sue if you want a female automatic driving instructor with lessons that are fun and in a relaxed atmosphere.
The demand for driving lessons is currently far exceeding the availability of our team of instructors.
In an attempt to manage your expectations, can we please advise that, unless you are available for daytime lesson (between 8am and 3.30pm), you WILL NOT BE ADDED to our waiting list. Our general waiting list currently has over 200 names on it.
For those with daytime availability, please do click the Enquire/Book Now button and COMPLETE the form which follows; you are under no obligation by doing that. The more availability you have, or if you can be flexible to take short notice lessons, the better chance you have of gaining lessons.
In the meantime, it is important for you to continue to search elsewhere for driving lessons with other schools.
Good Luck in your quest for lessons and we hope the situation will improve soon as our team grows. If you, or someone you know is interested in becoming a Driving Instructor or joining our team then please click here
